Our friends in marketing have been conducting observational research for years, and now leading communicators are following suit. Think of it as a tactical adaptation bred of a Darwinian necessity—it’s a messaging jungle out there, and if we are to survive we must be ruthlessly in touch with our stakeholders’ realities so we can somehow influence them with our words and images.

It took less than two weeks for Instagram’s newest video feature to overtake Vine for social media shares. On June 27 Topsy reported that Instagram video shares were north of 1.5 million, versus Vine, which came in just south of a million.

During my 31-year career at eight technology companies I have tried to be a strategist, tactician, advisor and mentor. To be a service across an organization requires not only an understanding of the business but… Continued